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The Independent
10 hours ago
- Business
- The Independent
Maja Stark edges ahead at US Women's Open as Nelly Korda remains in contention
Maja Stark could tell pretty early on Saturday that Erin Hills would provide much more of a challenge than it had in the first two days of the US Women's Open. Yet she found a way to avoid the mistakes that befell so many other competitors during a brutal third round. Now the 25-year-old from Sweden is in position to earn the $2.4m prize in the biggest event of the women's golf season. Stark shot a 2-under 70 to give her a 7-under 209 total and a one-shot advantage heading into the final round Sunday. Julia Lopez Ramirez of Spain was second after a 68, the best score of the day. "I think I'm just going to try to play freely," Stark said. "I think that no one has ever played well when they've been playing scared, and I think that's been my habit before, to just kind of try to hang on to it." The Japanese trio of Rio Takeda (70), Hinako Shibuno (72) and second-round leader Mao Saigo (75) followed at 5 under. Top-ranked Nelly Korda was 4 under after a 73. Speedier greens and tricker pin placements wreaked havoc with just about everyone on the course, leading to plenty of double bogeys and triple bogeys. One example of this came on the par-4 15th, when Esther Henseleit's eagle putt from 55 feet away rolled 90 feet beyond the hole and went into the rough. Henseleit ended up with a double bogey. "It's so hard because they tend to put holes that are right on the edges of the slopes, so you can see going into the grain and up until the hole, and then after the hole you just see that the grain is going the other way," Stark said. "It's just so hard to get the distances right. It's really scary when you know if you putt this five feet by, then that's gone." The struggles of the field helped Lopez Ramirez make a surprising surge less than three months after an appendectomy. Lopez Ramirez hasn't finished higher than a tie for 29th in any of her seven LPGA Tour appearances this season, though the 22-year-old rookie was the Southeastern Conference player of the year in 2023 and 2024 at Mississippi State. "I do believe that obviously when you're in college and you're about to win an event you have the same nerves," Lopez Ramirez said. "That's the most you care in that moment. You just want to win that tournament." Saigo took a three-shot lead into the day but made three straight bogeys at Nos. 4-6 to drop into a tie for first. She made an 8 1/2-foot birdie putt on No. 12 to move back into sole possession of the lead, but Stark tied her with a 21 1/2-foot birdie on the par-3 16th. Saigo then bogeyed the last two to fall two back. She said the pin placements caused her the biggest problems on Saturday. "The first thing is I'd like to rest well and then tomorrow (come out) refreshed and I'd like to start from zero," Saigo said through an interpreter. Plenty of other contenders faced similar misfortune. A Lim Kim, who entered Saturday in a six-way tie for second place, birdied No. 1 to get to 6 under, then went 7 over for the next four holes. Kim bogeyed No. 2, double-bogeyed No. 3, triple-bogeyed No. 4 and bogeyed No. 5. She ended up with a 77. Jinhee Im birdied two of her first three holes to get to 6 under before she triple-bogeyed the par-4 fourth. Noh also was at 6 under before a double bogey on No. 3. Im ended up with a 79, and Noh shot 75. Korda also struggled early before coming on strong late. Korda had a 40 on the front nine with four bogeys and no birdies, but rallied with three birdies on her last five holes. "It's just a golf course where you may not hit it in the right spot and it'll go down 40 feet and instead of being almost tap-in range, now you have a 40-foot chip where it's running off the back, as well," Korda said. "You just know that your mentality is that you're going to make mistakes, but you can also bounce back here." AP
The Guardian
14 hours ago
- General
- The Guardian
Maja Stark leads chaotic US Women's Open as contenders falter
Maja Stark could tell pretty early Saturday that Erin Hills would provide much more of a challenge than it had in the first two days of the US Women's Open. Yet she found a way to avoid the mistakes that befell so many other competitors during a brutal third round. Now the 25-year-old from Sweden is in position to earn the $2.4m prize in the biggest event of the women's golf season. Stark shot a 2-under 70 to give her a 7-under 209 total and a one-shot advantage heading into the final round Sunday. Julia López Ramirez of Spain was second after a 68, the best score of the day. 'I think I'm just going to try to play freely,' Stark said. 'I think that no one has ever played well when they've been playing scared, and I think that's been my habit before, to just kind of try to hang on to it.' The Japanese trio of Rio Takeda (70), Hinako Shibuno (72) and second-round leader Mao Saigo (75) followed at 5 under. Top-ranked Nelly Korda was 4 under after a 73. Speedier greens and tricker pin placements wreaked havoc with just about everyone on the course, leading to plenty of double bogeys and triple bogeys. One example of this came on the par-4 15th, when Esther Henseleit's eagle putt from 55 feet away rolled 90 feet beyond the hole and went into the rough. Henseleit ended up with a double bogey. 'It's so hard because they tend to put holes that are right on the edges of the slopes, so you can see going into the grain and up until the hole, and then after the hole you just see that the grain is going the other way,' Stark said. 'It's just so hard to get the distances right. It's really scary when you know if you putt this five feet by, then that's gone.' The struggles of the field helped López Ramirez make a surprising surge less than three months after an appendectomy. López Ramirez hasn't finished higher than a tie for 29th in any of her seven LPGA Tour appearances this season, though the 22-year-old rookie was the Southeastern Conference player of the year in 2023 and 2024 at Mississippi State. 'I do believe that obviously when you're in college and you're about to win an event you have the same nerves,' López Ramirez said. 'That's the most you care in that moment. You just want to win that tournament.' Saigo took a three-shot lead into the day but made three straight bogeys at Nos 4-6 to drop into a tie for first. She made an 8 1/2-foot birdie putt on No 12 to move back into sole possession of the lead, but Stark tied her with a 21 1/2-foot birdie on the par-3 16th. Saigo then bogeyed the last two to fall two back. She said the pin placements caused her the biggest problems on Saturday. 'The first thing is I'd like to rest well and then tomorrow (come out) refreshed and I'd like to start from zero,' Saigo said through an interpreter. Plenty of other contenders faced similar misfortune. A Lim Kim, who entered Saturday in a six-way tie for second place, birdied No 1 to get to 6 under, then went 7 over for the next four holes. Kim bogeyed No 2, double-bogeyed No 3, triple-bogeyed No 4 and bogeyed No 5. She ended up with a 77. Jinhee Im birdied two of her first three holes to get to 6 under before she triple-bogeyed the par-4 fourth. Noh also was at 6 under before a double bogey on No 3. Im ended up with a 79, and Noh shot 75. Korda also struggled early before coming on strong late. Korda had a 40 on the front nine with four bogeys and no birdies, but rallied with three birdies on her last five holes. 'It's just a golf course where you may not hit it in the right spot and it'll go down 40 feet and instead of being almost tap-in range, now you have a 40-foot chip where it's running off the back, as well,' Korda said. 'You just know that your mentality is that you're going to make mistakes, but you can also bounce back here.'
Japan Times
14 hours ago
- General
- Japan Times
Maja Stark takes one-shot lead entering final round of U.S. Women's Open
Sweden's Maja Stark continued her impressive play at the U.S. Women's Open on Saturday, shooting a 2-under 70 to take a one-shot lead entering the final round at Erin Hills in Erin, Wisconsin. Stark, who sits at 7-under 209 through three rounds, posted three birdies and one bogey as she moved up one spot after Friday's 69. The 25-year-old is seeking just her second victory on the LPGA Tour, having won the 2022 ISPS Handa World Invitational. "Probably going to go work out in the morning to try to get some nerves out, but I think just keep having fun with it because when I play scared, that's when I mess up, and you can't really play scared at a course like this," Stark said about her mindset heading into the final round. Julia Lopez Ramirez of Spain is one shot back after shooting the best round of the day, a 4-under 68. Ramirez, who opened her round with an eagle before adding three birdies and a bogey, rebounded after a 74 on Friday. "Honestly, it's very exciting," Ramirez said of being in position to win for the first time on the LPGA Tour. "I'm very excited for tomorrow. I'm just going to keep playing my game, have a lot of fun out there and play my game." A trio from Japan — Rio Takeda (70 on Saturday), Hinako Shibuno (72) and Mao Saigo (75) — are tied for third at 5-under 211. World No. 1 Nelly Korda is three shots off the lead following a 1-over 73 and is at 4-under 212. Saigo, who fired the best round of the championship so far (6-under 66) on Friday and held the lead by three shots, stumbled on Saturday with four bogeys on her first six holes. She finished with three birdies, but bogeyed her final two holes as she seeks her second major victory of the season after winning the Chevron Championship. "The first thing is that I would like to rest well and then tomorrow refreshed," Saigo said. "I would like to start from zero. ... That result was not that good, but I don't think that I have to change anything. I just want to focus on my play." Takeda opened her third round on a strong note with an eagle and added two birdies while bogeying the par-4 No. 5 hole and the par-3 No. 16 hole. She has two LPGA Tour wins to her credit, but this would be her first major victory. Shibuno, who was tied for second after the second round, is chasing her first major and second LPGA Tour win after notching a pair of birdies and bogeys on Saturday. She was the runner-up at the 2024 U.S. Open, but she doesn't think that will give her much of an advantage. "Maybe my advantage just as little as one millimeter, so that would be very nervous from the — probably I'll be very nervous from the beginning to the end," Shibuno said. "So I might not be able to take advantage being runner-up last year." Korda was in a tie for second after her impressive second-round 67 but posted four bogeys on the front nine before collecting three birdies on the back nine to stay within striking distance. "I've done it enough where it's just — it's all about being patient," said Korda, who is pursuing her third career major and first win on the LPGA Tour this season. There's just so many ups and downs, and you just have to kind of stick with it. ... Anything can happen. It just takes one shot."
ABC News
16 hours ago
- General
- ABC News
Australia's Minjee Lee in contention as US Women's Open golf heads into final round
Minjee Lee is close enough if good enough after making another move during the third round of the mega-money US Women's Open in Wisconsin. As fellow Australian Hannah Green fell off the pace, Lee carved out a one-under-par 71 at the ever-testing Erin Hills Golf Club to pull within four shots of Swedish leader Maja Stark. Lee was only two back on the back nine before a bogey on the par-4 15th left the dual major winner and 2022 Open champion in a tie for seventh at three under heading into Monday morning's (AEST) final round. Stark's third-round 70 earned her a one-stroke buffer over young Spanish sensation Julia Lopez Ramiro, a former world amateur number one who fired a 68 to surge to six under. Chasing a second straight major after winning last month's Chevron Championship, Mao Saigo let a three-shot halfway lead slip with three consecutive bogeys on the fourth, fifth and sixth holes. The Japanese sensation steadied and looked set to take a least a share of the lead into the final round until dropping two shots over the last two holes. Saigo is tied for third with compatriots Rio Takeda (70) and Hinako Shibuno (72), with American world number one Nelly Korda (73) one shot further back in solo sixth. After starting the day level with Lee at two under, Green posted a Saturday 73 to drop to one under and a share of 13th, six shots behind Stark. AAP
Washington Post
16 hours ago
- General
- Washington Post
Nelly Korda finishes with a flourish to keep her U.S. Open hopes afloat
ERIN, Wis. — The third round of the U.S. Women's Open at Erin Hills ended with a decidedly international flair at the top of the leader board. But Nelly Korda and Sarah Schmelzel were notable exceptions, keeping alive the chances of an American claiming the most prestigious title in women's golf.
